(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus including the same.
(ii) Related Art
An image forming apparatus including an image forming section configured to form an image, such as characters, figures, patterns, and pictures, on a sheet includes or is used with a sheet feeding device configured to feed sheets one by one to the image forming section. An exemplary sheet feeding device employs a method in which sheets stacked on a stacking surface of a sheet storing portion are sequentially fed from the topmost one of the sheets by a feeding device. The sheets, i.e., recording media having specific dimensions, may be plain paper, coated paper, specialty paper, thin paper, cardboards, postcards, or the like.
If the image forming apparatus is demanded to be small, the sheet feeding device included in or used with the image forming apparatus is also demanded to be small, usually. There are some related-art sheet feeding devices that meet such a demand for smallness.
A related-art sheet feeding device employs a support member having a support surface that supports leading-end part, in a sheet feeding direction, of a stack of sheets placed on a stacking surface of a sheet storing portion. At the time of sheet feeding, the support member is lifted in a direction perpendicular to the stacking surface, thereby lifting the leading-end part of the stack of sheets and retaining the leading-end part of the topmost one of the sheets to be pressed against a feeding roller of a feeding device. In this case, the feeding device may also include a stopper member (such as a separation roller) that is provided in contact with the feeding roller and stops sheets other than the topmost sheet that have been moved by the feeding roller from being fed.